Well, this is interesting. The New York Times caught wind of a special and secret meeting between Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer and Adobe's frontman Shantanu Narayen. They claim the entire talk was dedicated to the fight against Apple, and one of the options discussed was... Microsoft acquiring Adobe.

As most of you will know, Apple isn't particularly friendly towards Adobe. Adobe has indeed neglected to deliver quality software, but of course, that's not something Apple isn't guilty of. In any case, Adobe's Flash is banned from Apple's mobile devices, and obviously, that doesn't sit well with Adobe.

So, this is a topic of discussion among not only Adobe and Google, but also Adobe and Microsoft. The New York Times caught wind of a secret meeting between Steve Ballmer and Shantanu Narayen, Adobe's CEO. Apple was the focus of the talks between the two companies.

Not only did the two CEOs discuss possible partnerships, but they also took it to the next level by discussing a possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft. In the past, Ballmer was afraid to perform such an acquisition due to antitrust concerns, but the rise of Google and Apple as fierce and formidable competitors has renewed Microsoft's interest in Adobe.

It would be a sight to behold indeed. If such a deal went down, it would mean that Microsoft would supply the Mac platform with a hefty share of its most important software - Office as well as Photoshop and related products. It would also spell disaster for the Linux version of the Flash Player - which already is kind of a disaster as it is.

Both Microsoft and Adobe declined to talk about the meeting. "Adobe and Microsoft share millions of customers around the world and the CEOs of the two companies do meet from time to time," an Adobe spokesperson stated, "However, we do not publicly comment on the timing or topics of their private meetings." Microsoft didn't comment at all.